Amazon Gives Sellers 2-Hour Grace Period for Refunds

Amazon.com is now giving sellers "room for error" when it comes to issuing refunds to customers. The marketplace said when sellers refund the wrong order or issue a full refund when they intended just a partial refund, it knows correcting such mistakes can be tricky.

Amazon is instituting a standard holding period for all refunds to make it easier for sellers. "Now, when you generate a refund, it will sit in Pending status for up to 2 hours," Amazon announced. "This additional buffer gives you time to correct refund mistakes."

"Additionally," Amazon said, "we notify the buyer only when the refund is actually released, so if make a mistake and correct while it's in Pending status, the buyer will never know."

While this is seemingly a positive for Amazon's third-party sellers, the new policy also benefits Amazon.com. The company is notorious for trying to minimize contact with customers, and with the new 2-hour window, fewer sellers will have to contact Seller Support about refund mistakes.

Amazon said after the 2-hour window, it releases the refund, and sellers will no longer be able to cancel the refund.

About the author:

Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com.

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